Pierce Arnold - Why do We Journey Inward and is it Worthwhile? 4/27/2026

 Something that we’ve talked a lot about in class is this concept of self exportation and discovery, the process of getting to know yourself while also bettering yourself and removing imperfections. I think that we can all agree that this is a good thing to do in real life, and also that it is a good thing for mythic characters to do as well. After all, a story, fictional or not, is not going to be very compelling if there is no character development or self exploration throughout the journey. That said, the importance of this self explanation has to have a reason. So why is it so important to engage in this? This is not necessarily a difficult question to answer, however thinking through it can help us in our own lives to understand why we’re working on ourselves, and especially for us college students, why we are working to better our education. The more philosophical issue that seems to stem from this is whether this inward journey of self discovery and exploration has inherent virtue. For instance, we can all probably agree that a person who goes on such a journey and then uses what they learn to be a better parent, or help those in need, or contribute to society in some way is a valuable person who went on a valuable journey. But what about a person who goes on such a journey and then dies? Or someone who goes on such a journey but continues this meditation for decades throughout their whole life and never contributes anything? Is it still valuable and worthwhile to better yourself if that betterment doesn’t help anyone else? To say yes would almost seem selfish, to claim that a life centered on only what I can gain from my own ruminations doesn’t seem to be very compassionate. That said, you are still bettering someone, and self betterment may simply be an inherent value that does not require other parties to be worthwhile. I’m genuinely not sure what the correct answer here is, although this seems like an issue that does in fact have a right and wrong solution.

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